Rainy daydreaming... for business success

When Alex asked me for this month's copy, I thought I'd share with you what has inspired me over the last month.

What started out as a torrential, wet June day in London (I mean STAIR RODs, no taxi when you need one, a flooded underground and a damp, 45 minute walk from London Bridge to UCL) actually turned into a very inspiring, thought provoking and ultimately a “Big Thumbs Up” day to the power of Daydreaming.

An invitation from Sue Whittle of Cass to the Innovation and Creativity in Leadership Event 2012, was a rare opportunity for me to step back from the day-to-day running of the MDHUB and… a brilliant day all round to spend time listening and learning from great speakers.

It all kicked off with Neil Mullarkey (founder member of the Comedy Store) talking about improvisation for business leaders and how to embrace creativity and enhance their communication skills; followed by ‘Shamanism in Business’ by the amazing Icelander Illugi Eysteinsson of the Kreative Catalyst; finishing with the brilliant Max Mckeown on ‘Adaptability: the Art of Winning in an Age of Uncertainty’. We are going to see if we can entice Max to come along and talk at our main event in October.

The highlight of my day was one of the more “tucked away” late afternoon sessions which was run by Diane Simpson–Little and Joanne Grigg on Creativity and Daydreaming in Practice.

Diane is a tutorial fellow for the Msc in Product Design at the University of Sussex and she explained how her students arrive at her tutorials completely plugged in to their iPods, smart phones and laptops. She demonstrated how she “unplugs them” to release them from the external noise and engage with the freedom of day dreaming and the fantastic impact it has on the creative process. Take a look at the presentation.

My conclusion – we all have the ability to daydream, what stops us is TIME and often our CONCEPT OF THE VALUE OF DAYDREAMING. How often are you made to feel bad or guilty about daydreaming?

I remember all too clearly being told off/being admonished at both school and college for staring out of the window and not paying attention. Largely because I was incredibly bored by what was going on and also because I have a big imagination (not always very handy for A/S English Literature as it transpired). In reply to an exam question on Milton’s Paradise Lost, I remember writing that I thought Eve might find life a whole lot easier for herself with Adam if she used a Fly Mo in the Garden of Eden unsurprisingly, I spectacularly failed my A/S level (unclassified)... but hey, the garden looked great!

You may feel guilty about taking time out from your business, but what could be more valuable to its future than to take the time to really think and imagine what it's going to look like in 3 months, 6 months - after all isn’t that the point where we all started our businesses from?

Time taken – looking out of a rain swept window in a steamed up coffee bar or in the office, or at home – may be far more valuable than you think.

Looking forward to catching up with you all during our Summer and Autumn events.